Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Models]Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Models

This chapter explains an account of confirmatory factor analysis models, intertwined with a brief account of what is known as structural equation modeling, also referred to as covariance structure modeling. It looks at a basic example of a structural equation model. The central feature of path analysis is a path diagram that is used to illustrate confirmatory factor analysis models and structural equation models visually. The fitting of confirmatory factor analysis models becomes possible when the investigator has a specific factor model in mind. Structural equation models including confirmatory factor analysis models will contain a number of terms that are fixed by the researcher and a number of free parameters that need to be estimated from the data. In addition, the various contributions on confirmatory factor analysis and Structural equation models in the Encyclopedia of Behavioral Science edited by B. S. Everitt and D. C. Howell are all worth reading.